We'’re out of it! A summer 14 “MAGICal” Med adventure Day 14/Aug 05 updated 05/05

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin! I am really looking forward to hear about your European adventures on the Magic - we are going to cruise on her next year here in Europe (but to Norway).

Your food in Frankfurt looked really good, do you know where the restaurant was and what it was called? My next flight over will be on Lufthansa again (after Air France for the two most recent trips) and I am going to have a longish layover in Frankfurt after a very early morning flight out of Nuremberg, so any dining recommendations would be appreciated!

Magdalene!
Looks like we always vacation on different sides of the pond. You cruising to Norway and us on the Fantasy in the Caribbean.

The restaurant in Frankfurt is called Hausmann's, it is in Terminal 1, Bereich A, Ebene 2 (taken from the internet). They have very interesting and yummy things on the menu and it is nice to sit there and look out onto the landing and departing aircrafts.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Nice start with the extra cost and the crunch at the end. Guessing he was in such a hurry because of other appointments, or just protocol for a private driver to try and get you there quickly?

Aparthotel isn't a term I'm familiar with here in the states but pretty cool. Interesting it has two "first" floors. And that elevator is TINY!!! You said how large the room was before the picture of the bedroom with two single beds and I thought you were being funny...... Until I saw the rest of the pictures.

Nice they were sending you a bottle of wine for arriving early. ......

 

[caroleRWO]

Wonderful to find this before we set off this weekend. I believe your hotel is directly opposite where we will be staying. We plan to have tapas and a bottle of rioja on Friday at the bar in the middle of the street between the hotels.

This is so getting us in the mood.

Carole and Jenny along for the ride

 

[dizneeat]

Nice start with the extra cost and the crunch at the end. Guessing he was in such a hurry because of other appointments, or just protocol for a private driver to try and get you there quickly?

Aparthotel isn't a term I'm familiar with here in the states but pretty cool. Interesting it has two "first" floors. And that elevator is TINY!!! You said how large the room was before the picture of the bedroom with two single beds and I thought you were being funny...... Until I saw the rest of the pictures.

Nice they were sending you a bottle of wine for arriving early. ......

Yes, the extra cost was the thing that "irked" me the most. I should have just gone with my gut and took my chances on catching a taxi.
Those drivers try to get you to your destination as quickly as possible. As do the taxi drivers that we used a lot to get from a to b.

We just love those aparthotel. It is kind of like the DVC units, you have a real "place" of your own with all the amenities, like a kitchen, washer, dryer. They do clean every day though, so it was all that a hotel offers and more. Only thing, they do not offer breakfast.
And the place really was HUGE, the photos do not do it justice. You could compare it to a 1br villa at OKW, to give you an idea.

Wonderful to find this before we set off this weekend. I believe your hotel is directly opposite where we will be staying. We plan to have tapas and a bottle of rioja on Friday at the bar in the middle of the street between the hotels.

This is so getting us in the mood.

Carole and Jenny along for the ride

Carole!
We just loved the location of the hotel. And the space was awesome. We sat out on the balcony overlooking the courtyard and it was so quiet and peaceful.

Carole, if you have time, do yourself a favour and head to Biarritz 1881, a tapas bar just off La Rambla. The food was out of this world! It is a SMALL place, but the food more than made up for the lack of space. If you get there early (I think they open at 5.30??) you won't have to wait for a table. Google it and get a map on how to get there, it is not that easy to find.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 1, July 23

A beautiful new city to explore …….. Part 3

So, after check in we headed outside to check out the area and were pleasantly surprised that we were right in one of the shopping areas on Rambla de Catalunya.
First we headed towards the shop that we had been told was closest to do some grocery shopping.





It was really only about a two minute walk, but it was tiny and so we headed a bit further on where I had located a “Spar” grocery store on the internet. We found it after about a 10 minute walk, picked up a few bits and pieces as it too was a pretty small shop before going back towards our apartment. We headed straight on and past it, as we knew that on the other side of our block there was the Casa Batllo, a major sight of the city.
We were one block to high up, so when we walked down to the Casa Batllo, we walked past the largest Nespresso store we had ever seen.





And since there was a Nespresso machine in our apartment, it made sense to head inside. We were promptly greeted and handed a number and then went downstairs. Once our number was up we walked to the counter and Tom ordered two different boxes of coffee capsules, which we paid for and then had another good look around the shop. They had even offered us some coffee, but we both had declined. Coffee in the bag, bag in hand we headed back outside and down the street to the Casa Batllo.







It was a beautiful building, which we only looked at from the outside as there were a lot of people lining up to get inside. And after we had taken quite some photos of the building we headed down the street and along the next road back to our apartment. While we walked towards it, we saw a Starbucks coffee shop and just had to go inside.
We both got a drink, I had my staple a



Caramel Frappuccino, while Tom opted for something that was a special a



Banana Yogurt Frappuccino and we decided on sharing a



chicken salad Focaccia. The Focaccia was heated up while we waited for our drinks and it was the perfect snack in the afternoon.
We sat, chilled and talked about the start of our vacation before we finally walked the few more steps to our apartment building. We headed upstairs, took another walk around the apartment to check it all out, then made some coffee and sat out on the balcony with it.





We unpacked a bit, settled in and chilled. There were now nice chilled drinks in the fridge which we opened and had some chips to go with it, while we enjoyed a little down time. Around 5pm we decided that it was time to head out again and explore the city. So we slowly strolled down the Rambla de Catalunya until we reached the Plaza de Catalunya.









The weather was picture perfect and we took in the area. But we actually wanted to look for a small restaurant I had found online, which was further down La Rambla. So we slowly strolled down the pedestrian area, hand on bag all the time as we had been warned of pickpockets a lot of times. There were a few interesting buildings along the way, in which we had to walk into, one of them a church where we wanted to light a candle, but the only way was to drop a coin into a dropbox and in another box an electric candle was turned on. Something new again.
Then we headed into a huge fruit and vegetable market.





It was great to see all the fruit and veggies all put up perfectly. Once we got back to La Rambla we decided to just skip the main street and walk the streets of the old part of the city.

To be continued ..........​

 

[jenseib]

What an interesting way to start the vacation.....nothing like rearending someone!
At least you got settled in and had such an nice and spaceous room.
I understand about getting roped in with a facebook group. I sometimes see such bad info given and it seems like the ones that give it often at the people many of the others in the group "worship". I once was in a group for a trip a few years ago to WDW...and there were some real crazies in there. One person posted about 10 times a day about stuff and changes she was making.....it drove me batty and so many people fed into her need for attention.

 

[Poolrat]

Hi Karin,


Joining in


Travel day is always such a mixed bag. Great food in the airport and sorry you caved into the talk for a private driver and he had an accident


What a teeny tiny elevator-Not sure I would be comfortable riding in that for fear of it getting stuck. I wold be the crazy American sending the bags up while I ran up some stairs.


Nice little tour of Barcelona and a nice aparthotel. Looks and sounds like you were able to get settled quickly and with a bottle of wine for the inconvenience of it not being quite ready for you.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining in. Love the apartment. Can't wait for more.
Lee

 

[perfectmatch300]

It sounds like you and Tom are off to another great vacation, even with the little "bump" at the start. Glad to hear the accident was not serious, and no one was hurt. Barcelona looks like a beautiful city. It isn't on my short list of must visit places at this point, so I am glad I am getting to see it through your eyes. Your pictures and descriptions of places really do make me feel like I've been there, too.

Barry and I will be on the Dream starting Sunday! We should be waving frantically at the webcam. We have a tradition of sailaway parties with some of our friends, so if the weather is good they will be at Fishlips to see us off. We expect to be on the top deck at the bow of the ship near the sattelite antenna and will be wearing red because it seems to show up well. If the weather is bad, we'll be on our aft balcony hoping to stay dry.

I plan on going back to your TR from your B2B to re-read the part about turn around day before we sail. I remember that you had a really good description of the process and I want to refresh my memory on what we should expect that day.

Now if I could just find a way to make this week go by faster and then next week when we are on the ship go by really slow!

Nancy

 

[dizneeat]

What an interesting way to start the vacation.....nothing like rearending someone!

The driver was so worried that we were hurt - guess insurance issues were on his mind, but we both had put on the safety belt LONG before.

At least you got settled in and had such an nice and spaceous room.

I was really happy with my decision in the end. I had changed our hotel quite often starting out with a chain hotel, then I let myself being talked into checking out the hotel "mr FB" promoted, and finally a friend of Tom's gave him the address of an aparthotel they had used. So I checked them and they were booked solid, but after some research on the net I found this one and I can wholeheartedly say they were awesome. The price was more than fair and the amenities we had were great. If you ever need accomodations in Barcelona (for your clients) let me know.

I understand about getting roped in with a facebook group. I sometimes see such bad info given and it seems like the ones that give it often at the people many of the others in the group "worship". I once was in a group for a trip a few years ago to WDW...and there were some real crazies in there. One person posted about 10 times a day about stuff and changes she was making.....it drove me batty and so many people fed into her need for attention.

It was not that it was bad info given on that group, it was just that it was not really the best info. And "mr FB" promoted his private excursions and transfers in a way that you could think he was getting something out of it. And I am not sure that he indeed DID get something. He was the most worshipped person as well. If he had said that the sun was made from pizza they would have all thanked him for the information.
To be honest, I did not participate much in the end other than a countdown quiz I had established. That was fun.

Hi Karin,


Joining in

Pat!

Travel day is always such a mixed bag. Great food in the airport and sorry you caved into the talk for a private driver and he had an accident

I agree. There is a proverb here which translates to "if someone travels he can tell a story" and how true is that!
And it wasn't the driver that made me upset, it was the fact that I did not trust my gut and let me talk into something. I don't mind spending money (if the money goes directly into Mickey's pocket ) but we paid less than half of what I had paid for that ride for a taxi from our hotel after the cruise (which was way further away from the airport) than what I had paid the private driver company. More than 100 Euros spent for the convenience of having someone wait with a sign with your name.

What a teeny tiny elevator-Not sure I would be comfortable riding in that for fear of it getting stuck. I wold be the crazy American sending the bags up while I ran up some stairs.

That elevator was just big enough for the two of us! And I have not walked up and down the stairs in a hotel so much as I have there. We would walk whenever we did not have too much to carry upstairs. Oh, and it was SLOW too - so you would not even have had to RUN up the stairs, a leisurely walk would have done it.

Nice little tour of Barcelona and a nice aparthotel. Looks and sounds like you were able to get settled quickly and with a bottle of wine for the inconvenience of it not being quite ready for you.

We didn't want to overdo it that day as I had already booked tickets for a sightseeing tour the next day and we wanted to leave early.
I could not believe that they would actually put a bottle of wine into our room when we were early checking in.

Joining in. Love the apartment. Can't wait for more.
Lee

We were in awe over the apartment. Knowing the size of a European hotel room this was pure bliss.
More coming up shortly.

 

[dizneeat]

It sounds like you and Tom are off to another great vacation, even with the little "bump" at the start. Glad to hear the accident was not serious, and no one was hurt. Barcelona looks like a beautiful city. It isn't on my short list of must visit places at this point, so I am glad I am getting to see it through your eyes. Your pictures and descriptions of places really do make me feel like I've been there, too.

It was a great start to our vacation, even though I was grumbling about the private driver thingy.
To be honest, Barcelona wasn't on my short list either. We had visited it when we were both young and it was a been there, done that feeling.
But so much had changed and we just saw it with other eyes and I was happy I had added a few days before the cruise so we could explore the city.

Barry and I will be on the Dream starting Sunday! We should be waving frantically at the webcam. We have a tradition of sailaway parties with some of our friends, so if the weather is good they will be at Fishlips to see us off. We expect to be on the top deck at the bow of the ship near the sattelite antenna and will be wearing red because it seems to show up well. If the weather is bad, we'll be on our aft balcony hoping to stay dry.

I will be looking out for you on Sunday! Good excuse to stay up late (remember we are 6 hours ahead of you) the day before I need to get back to work
Oh, and should you be on your balcony - bring a flag and hang it onto the railing. You will be in the picture for sure.

I plan on going back to your TR from your B2B to re-read the part about turn around day before we sail. I remember that you had a really good description of the process and I want to refresh my memory on what we should expect that day.

If you have any questions, just let me know. We have never done it with changing staterooms, so I don't know how that will work out, but the other process is fairly easy. Get off the ship LATE, go through customs, make a sharp right and go up the escalator to the terminal again. Bring something to occupy yourself as you will have to wait for an hour or so, then check in again and wait in the concierge area until they come to let you back on board. No announcing of your name this time, but you will feel like the ship is all yours. Enjoy that time! It is the BEST time ever!

Now if I could just find a way to make this week go by faster and then next week when we are on the ship go by really slow!

Nancy

Well, I hope it is the other way around. Let this week go slow (as I am still on vacation) and the next week fly by. Hope it works for both of us - we ARE on different sides of the pond, so we might be lucky.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

So cool you could walk to do your shopping and have so many discoveries you weren't really expecting, and then have so much beautiful architecture to enjoy. You got some great pictures! Other than regular coffee I would probably order the same as you at Starbucks, but Tom's selection sounds really good too.

I usually am a lot more aware of things like pickpockets when I'm in a big city, and adjust accordingly. Making a mental note just in case I make it to Barcelona one day.

 

[cforsythe]

I cannot wait to hear about your adventures!!

 

[coconutsunshine]

Can't wait to read more! We are sailing on the Magic at the end of the month and are super excited!

 

[pas130]

There's a way to start Barcelona with a bang , glad it was minor and didn't affect your day Karin LOVE the aparthotel (did I write that correctly?). And the streets in the city are lovely! Castle on the hill like MK

 

[Flossbolna]

Friends of mine just spent a week in Barcelona this summer and when we chatted about their trip I realised how long it has been since I was in Barcelona. That was in 89 - before the Olympic Games. They had building sites for the games everywhere then. But now, looking at your pictures, I do recognise a lot. I really liked it then and have been thinking about returning there. So, seeing your pictures kind of reaffirmed this.

How nice of the hotel to give you a bottle of wine for being too early!

 

[jedijill]

What a way to start off your trip. I understand how you get caught up in the FB drama. There is always the one *self-proclaimed* expert and its easy to get sucked in. Oh well, lesson learned and you got a good story for your money.

The apartment looks great! I really like Barcelona and want to go back to explore more. I was so jetlagged that I missed out a lot plus it was raining the day I arrived as well. It really is a beautiful city.

Jill in CO

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Nothing like a good bump to the car in front to begin vacation! Thankful it was minor and your two were not injured in away way.

That elevator is teeny! I just. I get have been looking for the stairs since the apt was not on the top floor.

What a gorgeous view during your walk! And that building is amazing. I have always read and hard that Barcelona is a beautiful city; Mia visited when she was 14 with a small group from her parochial school and she loved it.

Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[Leshaface]

Karin i'm soooo happy to see your new TR up and running!

Oh my gosh, seriously?! I can't belieive he hit the car in front of him. Glad you guys were okay and no one was injured. That would be the worst way to start a vacation.

Such a spacious room!

I had no idea that there were Nespresso stores. Very cool!

Wow what an impressive building! Beautiful.

I love seeing fruits and veggies all lined up pretty and in order like that. Doesn't happen around these parts though

 

[RGirl]

Hi Karin!

What a shame about spending the money on the driver unnecessarily. But at least you got to experience crashing the car….

The apartment looks amazing! It’s so great when you book something and it turns out even better than expected.

Loving the pics of Barcelona!